


Fingers Fly

by YodelingProspector



Series: Single Dads and Special Kids [1]
Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Adopted Child, Adopted Children, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Bisexual Male Character, Cerebral Palsy, Crushes, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, First Meetings, Fluff, Gay Male Character, Gen, Interracial Family, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nonverbal Communication, Pegasunicorns, Single Parents, Sisters, Slice of Life, Things with wings are awesome, Tinker Bell doll, Twins, Wheelchairs, mechanic, single dads
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-01-10 20:04:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12306738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YodelingProspector/pseuds/YodelingProspector
Summary: Isaac Ross' life is nothing like he thought it'd be. Becoming the single father of twin daughters, one with cerebral palsy, was the most unexpected turn ever, but he can't imagine his life without Katey and Krista.Jake Williams isn't totally alone in raising his eleven-year-old son, Joshua, who has autism. He has an awesome twin sister who definitely makes up for his less-than-awesome parents. His neighbors are great, and he gets to fix ridiculously expensive cars and bikes for a living.The way the two single dads meet isn't exactly under the best circumstances, but they're both really glad they did.ORThe meeting and friendship between two single dads and their kids.





	1. Target Encounters

Isaac didn't think he'd be going to Target with his six-year-old twin daughters decked out in Clone Trooper costumes, but he doesn't really mind. He'd hoped his kids would like _Star Wars._ And really, anything would be a welcome respite from  _Frozen,_ which had basically dominated their lives for over a year. 

 

The fact that Katey and Krista are identical makes their whole Clone Trooper getup even more adorable, in Isaac's opinion. He'd taken a lot of pictures of them with his phone, and they've gotten a few compliments.

 

“ _I want-_ ” Katey starts to say with her tablet, and then the voice pauses. Isaac waits for his daughter to finish her sentence, because it takes her a bit of time to find the words she wants on her talker. Her hand jumps away from her tablet screen, and she has to move it back to the screen.

 

Isaac honestly would have traded his soul for Katey to have her communication app earlier. His baby can finally share her thoughts with the world and show everyone how smart she really is. Isaac is constantly having to put more words into her tablet

 

It's not perfect, of course- it can take a while for her to work her way through the menus to find the words she wants, and she gets frustrated if she gets left behind in a conversation because of this. And there's the fact that sometimes her arms wiggle away from the icons or she hits the wrong one. But it's still opened up a world of communication that she didn't have before.

 

“What do you want, baby?” Isaac asks, when Katey still doesn't finish her sentence.

 

Katey's groans get more frustrated, and Isaac frowns, nonplussed. She's usually great about using her tablet. Does it not have the word she wants on it? Usually she tries to describe a new word with the words she has. Katey smacks at the screen, but it's not saying anything. In her agitation, her arm jerks intensify.

 

"Daddy, it's not working." Krista informs him. 

 

_Oh._

 

The device is frozen, he realizes as Katey reaches a piercing shriek of anger at her tablet for suddenly betraying her.

 

Now, everyone in the vicinity is openly gawking as she flails and screams. Isaac waits for the tablet to reboot, fervently hoping that it won't die completely on them, because that wouldn't be fair to Katey and she'd let them know by screaming the whole time.

 

“Hang on,” Isaac soothes, trying to ignore all the eyes on them. He's grown used to attention over the years, when people see one of his daughters has a disability. Some people try to be discreet and side-eye them. Some purposely avoid looking anywhere in their direction, as if pretending they don't exist is somehow better than staring. 

 

Sometimes, people send pitying looks. Those are almost the worst. 

 

At least, when Katey's in her wheelchair, people don't look between Krista and Katey and ask the latter “Why don't you walk like your sister?”, like they had when Katey was still being pushed in a stroller while Krista ran about. Katey can walk with a walker, but it's slow and tires her out, and the wheelchair leaves her hands free to communicate with her tablet.

 

Okay, so not everybody is a jerk.  Some people will address both girls when asking how old they are or a similar question, instead of just Krista. They won't be condescending or use simple words with Katey when she responds with her tablet, or treat her like a baby like so many used to. The clerk at the store last week remarked at how smart they were as they tried to convince him to buy them candy instead of just whining for it, though they've both done their fair share of whining over the years.

 

“Katey wants to look at clothes.” Krista says, and Katey's scream gets a little quieter, but she's still clearly frustrated. Before Katey got the tablet, Krista had acted as her translator. The twins aren't telepathic or anything, despite what they've been asked, but Krista is still really good at guessing what her sister wants when she can't use her talker.

 

“What's wrong, sweetie?" A woman's voice asks in a babying tone. Isaac looks up to see a mother with her husband and preschool-age son. Isaac knows Katey hates being treated like a baby.

 

People usually ignore the sign on Katey's wheelchair with the words _I may not be able to speak out loud, but I can understand everything you say._ Isaac has programmed that phrase on the sign into Katey's speech tablet, too, so she can tell them that herself, but of course that doesn't work right now.

 

Katey hates being treated like a baby.

 

“She's mad 'cause she can't talk right now.” Krista tells the woman, as Katey continues to groan in her wheelchair. Krista points out the sign on her sister's chair. “Her tablet is broken.” 

 

“Why is she in a chair?” The preschooler asks loudly. Isaac doesn't mind so much when he does it. Kids are blunt. Heck, his own kids are still blunt, but the parents flush a bit in embarrassment and try to shush their kid.

 

“She can't walk on her own.” Krista explains with some annoyance, as if the boy should know it already.

 

“What's wrong with her?” The husband asks.

 

Isaac is about to launch into a tirade about how Cerebral Palsy doesn't define Katey, and that they should think before saying something's wrong with her right in her face like this.

 

Instead, he ends up not saying anything as Katey's tablet successfully finishes rebooting, bringing up the main menu of word categories and pre-programmed phrases. Katey can tell them herself.

 

Katey lets out a happy squeal, hands jabbing at the screen to select a phrase that's recorded in Krista's voice instead of the synthetic girl voice offered with the app. “ _I have Cerebral Palsy. I may not be able to speak out loud like you, but I understand everything you say._ ” And then, “ _I talk with my tablet_.”

 

Pointedly, she adds " _I am six years old._ " Those phrases were pre-programmed, but she has to select each word of " _Not. A. Baby._ " individually. 

 

The parents look rightfully mollified, but are interrupted before they can say anything.

 

“Cowboy!” The toddler boy shouts, running up to Katey's wheelchair and reaching for Quentin. Quentin- a GI Joe-esque cowboy action figure with black hair that looks enough like Isaac that the girls used to call the toy _cowboy daddy_ \- is Katey's favorite toy. She can't really dress or undress Quentin (or any of their other dolls, or herself) but she can pose him and hold him. The cowboy often hitches a ride on the tray of Katey's wheelchair.

 

“ _No_.” Katey says, and Krista rescues Quentin by sweeping the cowboy figure out of reach of the toddler. The toddler shrieks in annoyance. “ _Mine._ ”

 

They leave the family behind, heading towards the kids' clothing section, Quentin tucked safely next to Katey. “What did you want before all that, Katey?” Isaac asks.

 

“ _I want._ ” Katey takes a bit of time to tap through menus. “ _Cowgirl boots._ ”

 

“Cowgirl boots?” Isaac asks. Right, she's grown out of her old ones. “I doubt they have them here, sweetie.”

 

Once they reach the clothing section, Katey starts telling Krista what clothes to pick out. Her hand pokes at the screen, selecting words.

 

“ _Krista. Get. Ariel. Shirt.”_ The voice coming out of the tablet lacks the bossy tone that Isaac imagines with the words. Katey had just picked out that blue _Little Mermaid_ shirt herself and is trying to get a second one added to the cart for Krista.

 

“You're each picking your own clothes. Krista doesn't have to get the same stuff you do.” Isaac reminds her. Katey loves bossing people around now and letting everyone know exactly what her opinion is on everything.

 

Isaac is rather appalled some of the more edgy tween/teen clothes are now offered in little girl sizes. No six-year-old needs to be wearing anything low-cut. Not that he really wants his daughters to be wearing anything risque when they're teenagers, either, but he'll fight that battle when they get there.

 

His daughters are already growing up way too fast. They don't have to try and look older than they are. He's even been reluctant to paint their nails, but eventually they convinced him.

 

Thankfully, he manages to distract Katey from a low-cut, sparkly shirt to something more appropriate. She forgot all about the more mature clothing when she saw a shirt with an otter on it, anyways.

 

Isaac frowns when he glances up and sees that Krista is wearing a red robot shirt that's too large for her over her Clone Trooper costume. “That's too big for you, honey.”

 

“But look how cool the robot is!” Krista shows off the shirt to Katey, posing like a model. Katey grins at her sister.

 

“ _Awesome. Shirt. Krista._ ”

 

“It's pretty great.” Isaac agrees. “C'mon, let's put it back on the rack and see if they have a smaller size.” Just because it's probably from the boys' section doesn't mean Isaac won't buy it for his daughter, if they have a size that fits.

 

He pauses, frowning, noticing there's no price tag. “Krista, please tell me you didn't pull the tag off.”

 

“It didn't have one. It wasn't on the rack.” Krista says simply, probably adopting an innocent expression under her Clone Trooper mask. Isaac shoots her a puzzled look.

 

“That boy took it off 'cause he wanted another shirt.” Krista nods as if it means the shirt she's wearing was up for grabs. Wait, what boy?

 

Isaac glances up and sees the answer before he can even ask the question. A boy is standing a few racks away, dressed in a shirt clearly pulled off the rack behind him, with a detailed graphic of a pegasus flying over a rainbow covering the entire front, and red sleeves.

 

The boy is older than the twins- maybe ten or eleven?- pale and skinny, with brown hair falling into his eyes and bulky headphones over his ears. He's holding a Tinker Bell Barbie doll, sticking the doll's feet in his mouth and sucking on them. The doll has little bells on it that jangle almost constantly, and Katey laughs, really liking that.

 

The boy seems too old to be carting around a toy, but Isaac would be a hypocrite if he judged this boy when getting so annoyed about everyone who judges Katey.

 

The boy traces a finger along the outline of pegasus' wings on one of the shirts on the rack, face an inch away from the fabric.

 

“It's a Pegasus.” Krista informs the boy, pushing Katey's wheelchair so she and her sister can both look at the pegasus shirts together. “Crystal is a unicorn _and_ a pegasus, so she can stab people with her horn and fly. She's a pegasunicorn.” She clearly wishes she had brought her stuffed unicorn/pegasus along so she could demonstrate. She loves making Crystal defeat Barbies and action figures alike.

 

“ _Quentin._ ” Katey puts in.

 

“Yeah, and Crystal gives Quentin rides. He's the cowboy.” Krista points at the toy on Katey's wheelchair.

 

“ _I like. Your. Doll._ ” Katey tells the boy. “ _Tinker Bell._ ”

 

“Tinker Bell!” The boy laughs, making his doll jangle.

 

Isaac has his hands full with his own kids, but this kid seems to be alone, and he can't just leave him here.

 

“Are you lost? Who did you come with?” Isaac knows not to ask where his mom and dad are. Not all kids have both. Krista and Katey just have him. Susan had disappeared after the twins' birth, leaving Isaac to try to care for two infants by himself.

 

Turning his thoughts back to the kids, Isaac addresses the boy.

 

“Um, is she wearing your shirt?” Isaac gestures to the robot shirt that Krista's wearing. Why had the boy shed his shirt to try on a pegasus shirt? And what in the world made Krista decide to pick up the discarded shirt and try it on?

 

The boy doesn't answer, slipping on a pair of costume butterfly wings from another rack and running around. His hands flap as he pretends to fly.

 

Krista runs and grabs a pair of wings, too. Katey's probably jealous as she watches, confined to her wheelchair, until Krista starts to push her around as she runs.

 

“I'm a Clone Trooper Jedi fairy and I'm gonna beat up Sith Lords.” Krista pushes Katey's wheelchair forwards and lets out a warrior yell before making _pew-pew_ gun noises. They're probably pretending that Katey's wheelchair is a starship or speeder again. Katey loves pretending her wheelchair is something else.

 

“Krista, slow down.” Isaac calls out, at the same time Katey tells her twin to go faster. Krista's better at maneuvering her sister's wheelchair than shopping carts, thank goodness.

 

 _“Yee-haw_ ” Katey was thrilled when Isaac put that phrase into her tablet. Okay, maybe she's pretending she's at the rodeo with Quentin or something. The toy cowboy action figure almost falls of the wheelchair tray at one point as Krista pushes them around.

 

“You really don't know how to say no to your son, huh?” Someone scoffs from behind Isaac, and he turns to see a man. His first thought is that this man is the boy's father, except the man seems to think the boy is Isaac's. The man looks at the pegasus shirt that the boy is wearing and the doll. “You know what all that girly stuff's gonna do to him, right?”

 

Isaac sighs. This is clearly not his day, since this is the second heckler in less than fifteen minutes. And this one is apparently a homophobe, to boot.

 

Why do people think they have the right to force their opinion on other people's lives? This one isn't even heckling his kid, but Isaac's still pissed of at this jerk who's obviously hinting at something homophobic. Which is stupid, because wearing a girl's shirt and having a doll doesn't mean anything about this prepubescent boy's sexuality.

 

Krista runs from behind a clothes rack, still pushing Katey's wheelchair. Both girls continue to squeal at an ear-splitting volume. Isaac's suddenly jealous of the boy's headphones.

 

Isaac clenches his teeth, because now the guy's staring at Katey, of course. The man opens his mouth. “What's up with-”

 

He should just let this idiot have it, but before he can cut this man off and let out a tirade, they're interrupted.

 

“Joshua!” A very tall, tattooed, black man with dreadlocks sprints over to the boy. “There you are!” He seems quite frantic, but Isaac notices that the man has a really sexy biker vibe going.

 

The man kneels down and hugs the child tightly before pulling away and looking at Joshua sternly.

 

“You can't just go AWOL, Joshua.” The hot man glances quizzically at the pegasus shirt and butterfly wings before pulling Tinker Bell's feet out of Joshua's mouth.

 

Joshua reaches out to fiddle with one of the man's dreads. Isaac finds himself imagining running his own hands through the man's long locks. Isaac spots a tattoo of a roaring lion head on Joshua's dad's bicep, among the sleeve of tattoos covering both arms. And no, there's not a reason he's staring at the hot guy's muscles. Although he's kind of wondering what it'd feel like to be wrapped in the same sort of hug Joshua was, earlier.

 

Isaac shakes his head, trying to clear the mental image. What the hell is wrong with him? This isn't the time or the place to be thinking that stuff.

  

“You gotta stick with me. No radio silences, okay?” The boy's father levels him with a serious look.

 

“No radio silences.” Joshua replies

 

“Exactly. So you're gonna hover near me, instead of flying ahead, aren't you?”

 

“Clear for takeoff!” Joshua sticks Tink's feet back in his mouth and grinning down at the pegasus shirt.

 

“No, we're not clear for takeoff.” The man grabs the boy's arm, clearly worried he'll dart off again, but Joshua stays put. "Bad things could happen if you get lost."

 

“Thank you, my dear, you were most helpful.” Joshua says in a somewhat cultured British accent, looking at his doll. Isaac is extremely confused by that statement. "Well then, we won't need you anymore. Heh heh heh. Our plan worked perfectly." 

 

"Are those the lantern scenes?" The man asks after a moment. Joshua doesn't respond. “I see you put on some new clothes.”

 

Joshua grins, trying to stare at the costume wings on his back, hands flapping excitedly. Isaac smiles slightly at his enthusiasm. “Wings!”

 

“Yeah, I can see why you picked it out. Look at those wings. And it's got wings. Pegasus, right? Flying over the rainbow.” The guy points to the rainbow on the shirt with a large hand. “And you've got wings, too.”

 

“Yeah, it's Pegasus. Katey likes rainbows.” Krista pipes up before Katey can choose the words to express it herself on her talker. The hot dad glances at Krista, eyes flicking between her shirt- or, rather, Joshua's shirt- and Joshua.

 

“ _Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Purple._ ” Katey rapidly selects the rainbow colors from the colors subfolder on her screen.

 

“Excuse me,” The homophobe-hinting guy from before interjects contemptuously. Isaac had forgotten he was there, and wishes he wasn't. “Are you his caretaker or babysitter or something.”

 

“I'm his Papa.” Joshua's papa says, raising a challenging eyebrow. “Why, you think just 'cause we don't look the same, that he's not my boy?”

 

Isaac suppresses a smirk, although he does have to wonder if maybe Joshua's adopted, because the boy seems a bit too pale to be this guy's biological son. But even if Joshua is adopted, that doesn't mean anything about his dad's sexuality.

 

The rude man flounders for a bit, and then asks. “You let him dress like that? And play with _dolls_?”

 

“He was wearing this shirt before.” Krista stares up at the unwanted commentator, gesturing to the robot shirt that she's still wearing.

 

The tattooed guy rises and stares down at the man. “I let my son wear and play with whatever makes him happy.” The guy says, as if he'd come to the store with his kid dressed like this, rather than Joshua having an impromptu outfit switch. But the butterfly wings certainly do make the boy happy.

 

Joshua's dad clearly loves his son unconditionally, which just makes the man even more attractive in Isaac's opinion. Why is he still thinking about this?! It's so inappropriate to crush on a random father in a store, especially in front of their kids.

 

The man that's been harassing Joshua, on the other hand... well, Isaac hopes that if he has kids, none of them are anything but straight. This man certainly wouldn't be a supportive father when it comes to sexual orientations or gender identities or even just liking something that doesn't fit gender norms.

 

“Well, you should get him out of that girly shirt and wings and back into the right shirt. He probably doesn't even know he's wearing a girls' shirt.”

 

“Yeah, because my eleven-year-old son can't read that sign.” Joshua's papa says sarcastically, pointing to the sign that says _Girls' Clothes._ Joshua doesn't offer any proof that he can read it, so Isaac just takes the man's word that he can.

 

“Daddy's a boy, too, and he wears pink and crowns. And plays with dolls.” Krista informs them, as Katey selects words on her tablet, probably aiming to say the same thing her sister just had. Isaac will wear dress-up accessories when playing with his girls, and they think it's hysterical when he combines a tiara with a Darth Vader mask to tell them in a deep voice that he is their father. They know that, just like they can wear Clone Trooper costumes or other 'boy' things, boys can wear or play with stuff aimed at girls.

 

Of course, the bigoted man is now shooting Isaac a scathing look. Isaac barely notices, because Joshua's papa is giving him a small grin that almost makes Isaac's knees buckle. He wants to see more of that smile.

 

“ _Daddy. Nail Polish._ ” Katey says once she selects the words on her tablet.

 

“Why doesn't your mom do that for you?” The man asks them. Isaac bristles, not at all willing to go there with a total stranger. The jerk doesn't need to know their history.

 

“Your nails look great.” Joshua's papa interrupts, glancing at the girls' colorful toenails, which are visible since they're wearing flip-flops. He looks at Katey's blue sparkly toenails and tells “They match your pretty eyes. And yours,” He points at Krista's purple toenails, “Well, they don't match your eyes, but that's a nice purple.”

 

“ _Thank you._ ” Katey says, and Joshua's papa grins at her, not seeming at all fazed by her random movements or speaking from a tablet.

 

“Do you paint his nails, too?” The jerk man asks scornfully, glancing at Joshua, who's still jumping and flapping, Tinker Bell doll tinkling constantly.

 

“If he wanted me to, I would.” Joshua's papa replies.

 

The boy grins around Tink's feet, flinging his arms wide again and hopping up and down. Isaac assume's he's listening even though he appears to be in his own world. Most people assume Katey isn't listening when she is (or, even worse, they assume she is listening but can't understand them).

 

“You should tell him it's not okay for him to be wearing that.” The man gestures furiously at the shirt and wings. “Something else is clearly wrong with him in addition to the clothes.”

 

Isaac's been thinking Joshua might have some form of autism. So far, the rude man's been focusing on Joshua's clothing and toy preferences, but that's clearly changed. Could this man be any more of a jerkass?

 

“I'm starting to wonder what's wrong with you.” The tattooed guy says, brown eyes narrowed furiously as he crosses his muscular arms. With the tattoos and muscles, Joshua's papa sort of looks like the tough type of macho man who gets in fights a lot, but despite his fierce glare and general appearance, he doesn't seem to be contemplating actual violence. “You can't seem to keep your dam- darn mouth shut. Believe it or not, I don't love the sound of your voice.”

 

“You can't seem to keep your dam- darn mouth shut.” Joshua echos his father's tone perfectly.

 

“ _Go away. Man._ ” Katey tells the jerk. “ _Mean. Man._ ” Despite the tension, Isaac smiles at her.

 

“I'm just saying that-”

 

“How about you take your bigoted opinions elsewhere and stop telling me how to raise my son?” Joshua's papa tells the man.

 

Unfortunately, Mr. I-can't-keep-my-close-minded-opinions-to-myself doesn't do as Katey or the hot dad brilliantly suggested, and instead blurts out “You're turning your boy into a faggot fairy.”

 

“Well, he has wings.” Krista says as if the man is particularly stupid (it's a fitting tone). “I'm a fairy too, see?” She points to her own costume wings.

 

“ _Tinker Bell._ ” Katey puts in. “ _Is. Awesome._ ”

 

“Faith, trust and Pixie Dust!” Joshua shouts.

 

“Tink's cooler than Peter!” Krista shouts, and Katey agrees.

 

“He doesn't even know what you're doing to him.” The man mutters. “You're despicable, taking advantage of a disabled boy like this.”

 

The man gives both Joshua and his father a look of disgust. “I'm going to talk to the manager. This is ridiculous.” He stomps off, but not before calling over his shoulder “You shouldn't be raising your son if you can't do it right.”

 

“I'm sorry about that,” Isaac gives the Joshua's papa a sympathetic glance. “We've been there a lot. Some people...” He can't think of anything to say that doesn't involve certain choice words that he doesn't want his daughters repeating.

 

“Faggot fairy.” Joshua blurts out of nowhere, repeating the bigot's words. “Faggot fairy.”

 

“Daddy, what's a fag-got?” Krista asks innocently but rather loudly. “Is it a type of fairy?”

 

Isaac sighs. Those are the types of words he doesn't want her repeating. “It's not a nice word.”

 

“But it's a fairy, right? What's wrong with fairies?” Really, the use of fairy had been kind of ironic, since Joshua is actually dressed as one.

 

“Um, he wasn't using _fairy_ to mean he had wings. He was using it as a mean word.”

 

“ _What?_ ” Katey says.

 

“It's a rude word for men who like other men.” Isaac says, glancing at the Joshua's dad, who's watching him with brown eyes.

 

Joshua has stopped echoing the phrase by now, and Isaac wonders if that's a coincidence.

 

“Krista, let's give Joshua his shirt back.” Isaac says, tone making it clear it's not up for debate.

 

“Naw, she can keep it if she wants.” Joshua's papa says.

 

“Really?” Isaac asks skeptically, while Krista whoops.

 

“Joshua was getting too big for it, anyways.” The man says, shrugging. “Krista will grow into it... eventually.”

 

“Wow, uh, thank you...”

 

“Jake.” The man holds out a large hand for Isaac to shake. Jake's hand is warm and firm and Isaac tries desperately not to think about how those hands would feel on other parts of his body. He really doesn't want to let go of the hand, either.

 

“Great name to match a great face.” Isaac's smile falls when he realizes he'd said that out loud, not only in front of Katey and Krista, but in front of this guy's boy as well. What on earth is wrong with him?!

 

“ _My name is Katey._ ” Katey introduces herself to Jake. Or maybe she's talking to Joshua. Isaac is so thankful she'd butted into the conversation right now.

 

“I'm Krista! We're twins and we're six” Krista pipes up. “But I'm an hour and fifty minutes older.”

 

“Well, Katey and Krista, I have to give some major kudos on your costumes.” Jake grins at them. Isaac's knees feel slightly weak at the grin, even though it's not directed at him.

 

Jokingly, Jake asks “So, are there more of you clones running around?” His eyes grow wide and he glances at Katey's wheelchair. “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-”

 

“Katey can't run.” Krista interrupts as she stares up at Jake from behind her Clone Trooper mask.

 

“I know, I'm sorry Katey, I was an idiot for saying that, and-”

 

“ _I. Can. Walk._ ” Katey nods.

 

“You can? That's great!” Jake says genuinely.

 

“You can fly!” Joshua says, green eyes flicking between the two girls' masks, although he hasn't looked Isaac or Jake in the eye yet. Maybe the clone masks help.

 

“So, I didn't catch your name.” Jake says, grinning at Isaac, who feels as if he's about to collapse at the amazing sight of that smile directed at him. His eyes drop to the plump lips surrounded by a goatee.

 

“Isaac.” Isaac introduces himself, trying not to flush at his earlier slip-up or his staring. He forces his eyes up to meet Jake's brown ones.

 

 

The man is probably straight, and Isaac is disappointed. He shouldn't really be disappointed. It's not like he even has time for dating. Being a single parent is already a full time job, plus he has to work to pay bills and put food on the table.

 

Jake smiles and him, and Isaac is so doomed with a huge crush.

 

* * *

 

It's been a while since Joshua wandered off, so Jake really hadn't been expecting him to disappear in Target. They've made loads of progress from when Joshua used to try and bolt at any time, and Jake had needed to hold his hand constantly. Nowadays, Joshua still runs around, but he'll turn and come when Jake calls his name, instead of starting an exasperating Joshua-chase.

Clearly Jake should have been watching Joshua closer now. He'd definitely deserve a Fatherhood Failure medal for this.

 

Of course, he'd been rather panicked as soon as he realized Joshua was nowhere in sight. His mind had filled with images of Joshua lying dead on the road.

 

He'd found him in the clothing section after what was probably a minute or two of frantic searching, although it felt like much longer when he'd been looking.

 

Really, it could have been a much bigger incident, Jake realizes as his heart rate returns to to something less than full throttle. Joshua had just gone off look at a display, he hadn't left the store or wandered into traffic or anything really dangerous. Perhaps some of the reason he left was because the cleaning supplies aisle smells terrible even to Jake, and it probably smelled even worse to Joshua.

 

Still, Jake hugs Joshua tightly when he finds him. Joshua loves deep-pressure bear hugs and is actually rather cuddly. Some people assume that everybody on the autism spectrum hates being touched, but Joshua would prove them wrong.

 

He's slightly surprised to see that Joshua has changed shirts, apparently stripping off his old one. He also has on a pair of brightly-colored butterfly wings, which isn't surprising. Joshua loves anything that flies. For years it was Dumbo, and now it's butterflies and Disney Fairies. (Jake has heard _You Can Fly_ from Disney's _Peter Pan_ way too many times).

 

He reminds Joshua that he shouldn't go AWOL, using analogies of Tinker Bell and planes. A few of Joshua's teachers over the years said he shouldn't talk about planes and flying things so much, but one teacher incorporated his love of flying things into activities, and Joshua was a lot more engaged .

 

There are two men hanging around them, both shorter than Jake, although most people are.

 

One of the men- the dark-haired guy with a handsomely roguish beard and breathtaking blue eyes- looks like he stepped out of one of Jake's fantasies. Jake focuses on Joshua, but his eyes flick back to that man as if drawn by magnets.

 

Then the other man asks if Jake is Joshua's caretaker.

 

Jake's used to people assuming that he's not Joshua's father, but that assumption has led to some problems. Like when Jake was trying to calm Joshua during a meltdown got tackled by security because someone reported a black man trying to kidnap a child.

 

Hopefully today won't go that route.

 

The jerk man starts spewing crap about how Joshua isn't supposed to be wearing girly clothes or playing with dolls,

 

A little girl, who happens to be wearing Joshua's discarded shirt over a Clone Trooper costume, jumps to Joshua's defense by claiming her dad wears girl stuff sometimes when they play. She's completely adorable and Jake's really glad she doesn't seem to think his son is strange. He also finds it great that the dad apparently isn't afraid to play dress up with them.

 

He has a feeling the dad is an awesome dad all around. Probably a lot more awesome than Jake, who just lost his kid for crying out loud.

 

There's another girl- a twin, Jake thinks- in a wheelchair. She's wearing an identical Clone Trooper outfit and there's a toy cowboy and a tablet on her wheelchair. Instead of speaking, she communicates with the tablet.

 

Both girls are absolutely adorable (well, Jake assumes they are under the masks) and he finds himself completely charmed by them. They're an amazing family, he can tell.

 

An amazing family that's probably a nuclear family with a wife, although Jake notices the hot dad bristle when the girl's mother is mentioned. But even if there isn't someone else in the picture, it's not like Jake and Joshua will ever be a part of that family anyways. Why is he even thinking about this?

 

Despite all of Jake's attempts, the bigot man will just not leave them alone.

 

“You can't seem to keep your dam- darn mouth shut. Believe it or not, I don't love the sound of your voice.” Jake tells the annoying man, barely remembering to filter out his swearing.

 

“You can't seem to keep your dam- darn mouth shut.” Joshua echos him, and the little girl in the wheelchair tells the man to go away.

 

Jake hopes his stature would intimidate the man (especially since bigots think black men are violent) but the man keeps at it. He's lucky Jake isn't violent, or he would have been clocked long ago.

 

The obnoxious man eventually spews out “You're letting your boy become a faggot fairy.” Jake had heard a lot of homophobic slang like that growing up and wants to shield his son from that sort of hate, regardless of if Joshua is actually gay or not. He's not going to shame his son for liking anything, either.

 

He still remembers his own parents disliking when they found him playing  _My Little Pony_ with his twin sister, Yasmin, and told them to find other ways to play together. It's not like liking ponies had anything to do with his sexuality, despite the stereotypes of feminine gay guys. There are plenty of straight bronies.

 

Not that people would assume that Jake's anything but really masculine when looking at him, now. He's tall, tattooed and fixes cars and bikes.

 

When Jake's dad found Jake playing with the baby dolls that Yasmin never touched, he actually used his belt on him, even though his mother said there was nothing wrong with Jake wanting to pretend to be a father.

 

Jake almost wants to laugh when the twin girls turn the derogatory fairy comment into a discussion about Tinker Bell. It seems Joshua and the twins have a common interest, although it's more of an obsession for Joshua. The Disney Fairies movies have been on heavy rotation in their house.

 

Finally, the bigot stomps off, claiming he's going to talk to the manager. Jake isn't concerned about that. He's met the manager of this Target store (who personally apologized to him _very_ profusely after the whole security incident and assured him it would never happen again).

 

To Jake's horror, Joshua starts repeating the phrase _faggot fairy,_ which is one of the last things he wants his son to repeat constantly. This leads to one of the little girls asking what a faggot is, thinking it's a real fairy, and their dad explaining what it really means. Joshua actually stops repeating the phrase.

 

Jake's glad the girls' dad isn't a bigot. He hadn't seemed to have a problem with Joshua liking more girly things. However, just because he's not a homophobe doesn't mean he's interested in men, to Jake's disappointment, although he had noticed the man tense slightly when the girls' mother was brought up.

 

When the man tells the girl wearing Joshua's shirt- Krista, apparently- to give it back, Jake finds himself blurting that she can keep the shirt, surprising even himself. Sure, Joshua's grown out of it, but it's not like Joshua can exit the store wearing a new shirt.

 

Well, Jake certainly hadn't been expecting to give away his son's shirt, but is so excited that it'd be too cruel to insist on getting it back.

 

“Jake.” He introduces himself to the dad.

 

“Great name to match a great face.” The man says, and Jake's mind blanks. Surely the guy hadn't just flirted with him? Maybe Jake's mind is wishing he'd said that, instead of _Great to put a name to a face_?

 

“ _My name is Katey._ ” The girl in the wheelchair introduces herself with her tablet.

 

“I'm Krista! We're twins and we're six” The other twin says. “But I'm an hour and fifty minutes older.”

 

“Well, Katey and Krista, I have to give some major kudos on your costumes.” Jake grins at them. Twins dressed as clone troopers on a random trip to the store is about the greatest thing ever.

 

Jokingly, Jake asks “So, are there more of you clones running around?” His eyes grow wide as he realizes what he'd just said. _Way to ruin everything._ “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-”

 

“Katey can't run.” Krista interrupts as she stares up at Jake from behind her Clone Trooper mask.

 

“I know, I'm sorry Katey, I was an idiot for saying that, and-”

 

“ _I. Can. Walk._ ” Katey nods.

 

“You can? That's great!” Jake says genuinely.

 

“You can fly!” Joshua says, and he's actually looking at the twins' clone masks. Maybe the fact their faces are hidden helps. Jake has to remember that.

 

“So, I didn't catch your name.” Jake says to Katey and Krista's dad, trying not to get lost in his gorgeous blue eyes. The guy's probably married. He's too great to not be taken.

 

“Isaac.” The hot dad introduces himself.

 

Jake almost blurts out “ _Great name for a great face._ ” like Isaac had earlier. Or, he thinks Isaac had earlier. But he doesn't. No need to make things more awkward.

 

“ _I. Want. To. Fly._ ” Katey says.

 

“You gonna introduce yourself, Joshua?” Jake shoots a pointed look at Joshua.

 

“Hello. My name is Joshua. What is your name?” Joshua says. They've been working on that for a while.

 

“Hi Joshua. Are you clothes shopping too?” Krista asks.

 

“Yeah, he just keeps growing.” Jake replies, shaking his head with a grin.

 

“I think he wants the pegasus shirt.” Krista says, and asks Isaac if she and Katey can get pegasus shirts of their own.

 

“You wanna get the pegasus shirt, Joshua?” Jake asks, although the answer is obvious.

 

“Get the pegasus shirt!” Joshua says. “Get the wings!”

 

“You've already got wings at home.” Jake has to draw the line and goes to pull the wings off his son. They're here to get actual clothes. And groceries.

 

Joshua screams slightly, causing the girls to look at him, but reluctantly lets Jake take the wings from him.

 

After retrieving their cart, they continue to shop for a bit. Joshua also finds a Batman shirt in the boys' section, to replace the one he's outgrowing. He was never into Batman, but definitely loves bats.

 

Then, the loudspeaker squeals, making Jake cringe. Joshua's hands fly over his earmuffs.

 

This causes a full-scale meltdown, with Joshua writing under the racks of clothes. Joshua still hasn't gotten to voicing his disappointment instead of throwing tantrums.

 

A passing security guard glances at him apologetically, having been the one of the ones to apprehend him the last time this happened.

 

"Do you need anything?" Isaac asks Jake over Joshua's screams. Jake shakes his head. It's a lot better if Joshua isn't crowded.

 

Thankfully, Isaac gives them space and probably instructs his girls to do the same, since they leave him alone. Isaac is crouching and maybe trying to explain the situation to his kids. Jake wrestles his boy into his lap so he can't hurt himself or others, and sings _Baby Mine_ from _Dumbo_ over and over.

 

By the time Joshua's meltdown is over, Isaac and his girls are gone.

 

* * *

It's a bit of a close call getting to the bathroom when Krista says she has to go, but they make it.

 

The three of them are crammed into the family restroom at Target. Family restrooms are a lifesaver since the girls are getting too old to go with Isaac in the men's room, and Isaac can't take them into the ladies' room. But Katey sometimes needs help getting from her wheelchair to the toilet, along with things like wiping. She definitely needs help pulling down the Clone Trooper bodysuit she's wearing over her clothes.

 

The girls take care of their business- Isaac has Katey use the toilet too, since she can't have been far off from needing to go, anyways- and wash their hands. He has to hold both of them up, one at a time, because the sink is too high for them to reach.

 

Their little bathroom trip only took about five minutes. Hopefully nobody messed with their cart when they were gone.

 

“Why was that boy throwing a tantrum?” Krista asks for the third time as they're walking back to the girls' clothing section and their cart. She'd asked twice in the bathroom, and Katey had asked once, but Isaac had tried to make sure they didn't take long in the bathroom, because another family had been waiting outside.

 

“Joshua?” Isaac asks, and both girls nod. “Um, I think he hears things much louder, so some sounds are too loud for him.”

 

"But he screamed when his daddy had to take the wings."

 

Isaac glances at the wings that Krista's still wearing. “Speaking of which, Krista, you have to put your wings back, okay?” She's wearing Joshua's shirt. Maybe they really should give Joshua's shirt back? Sure, Jake said they could have it since Joshua barely fit in it anymore, but it still seems kind of weird to just walk away with someone else's shirt.

 

“What if I threw a tantrum like him?” Krista asks curiously, glancing at her wings.

 

“It wouldn't work.” Isaac really doesn't like the direction this is heading.

 

“But he did it.”

 

“ _The. Boy. Is. Old._ ” Katey says. She probably means something like _he's older than us, shouldn't he know better?_

 

Isaac's seen adults throw worse fits than Joshua had. Really, he'd just screamed once. His real meltdown had followed a sound that made all of them cringe. 

 

Before Isaac can think of an answer, they're back in the clothing section. He actually sees Jake leading Joshua out of the clothing section, and Joshua is no longer screaming on the ground. The boy starts to make a break back for the wings- he's a sneaky one, it seems- but Jake is holding his hand to keep him from doing just that, and then he lifts Joshua up and carries him. This results in Joshua shouting “Wings! WIIIIIIINNNGS!” as he tries to slip from his father's arms

 

“Wow, he really wants the wings.” Krista says, looking back at her own.

 

“ _Cool._ ” Katey puts in her two cents. “ _Awesome. Wings._ ”

 

Isaac is disappointed that Jake left the children's clothing section. He understands it- get the kids away from the tempting object. Isaac's definitely done that with his own girls before- sometimes he avoids the candy or ice cream aisles like the plague.

 

So while he totally gets that Jake left with Joshua, he's disappointed. He was thinking of maybe giving the robot shirt that was gifted to Krista back to Jake (because maybe Jake would insist he should come by and pick it up for Krista? He'd been pretty insistent on letting Krista have it). Or, maybe he could have gotten the man's number some other way.

 

Hang on. What is wrong with him. The likelihood that this man is single like him is next to nil. There's no way a man as stunning as Jake isn't taken.

 

Heck, he doesn't even know Jake's last name, and now the man's gone.

 

The girls soon forget about Jake and Joshua as they continue picking out new clothes, but Isaac finds his mind keeps drifting back to the tall, handsome man.

 

What if this was the only encounter they'll ever have? Isaac half wants to run in the direction he'd seen Jake lead Joshua.

 

He doesn't even know Jake. Why on earth is he crushing on him so hard already? This usually doesn't happen. Isaac hasn't dipped his toe into the dating pool since, well, he'd dated Susan, and then the girls were born, and his girls always came first. It's not like he ever had any time for dating before the kids were in school. Heck, before they were in school, he barely had time for his job. Good thing being a computer programmer pays enough for him to hire a part-time nanny for when he's working at home.

 

Once they've brought their basket to the checkout aisles, Isaac is pleasantly surprised two familiar people get behind them in the checkout line. Somewhat disappointingly, Jake is currently on the phone, so they don't exchange anything other than a friendly nod and smile at first.

 

“You shouldn't throw a fit and scream like that.” Krista tells Joshua seriously. “It makes grown-ups grumpy.”

 

“ _Yeah._ ” Katey says simply, as if she hadn't just had her own screaming fit when her tablet froze, and the words were stuck inside of her.

 

Maybe that's why Joshua had been screaming, too? He really hasn't said much. Maybe the words were trapped in him as well?

 

“Love you.” Isaac freezes when he hears the words Jake wraps up his phone call with. No doubt he was calling his wife. Or his husband, you never know. Isaac shouldn't be as disappointed to hear those words as he is. He _knew_ Jake was too good to not be taken. He'd thought that earlier, for crying out loud.

 

“Thanks for the shirt.” Krista beams a gap-toothed grin at Joshua, gesturing to her red robot shirt. Isaac glances at Jake, sending him a _you sure about this?_ look.

 

“You're welcome.” Jake grins down at her, and Isaac wishes that grin was directed at him forever.

 

“I thought you were going clothes shopping.” Isaac says, looking in Jake's shopping cart, which contains groceries and cleaning supplies instead of clothes.

 

Jake just gives him a look that says _Well, that got pushed back._ Probably to avoid another incident with the wings. “Well, we technically came for groceries, but he needs clothes sometime soon.”

 

“Wings?” Joshua's timing is almost perfect as he glances over Krista's shoulder, where her costume wings had been. He doesn't comment on Katey wearing the robot shirt he'd been wearing earlier, but he once again looks at their masks, despite avoiding Isaac's own eyes.

 

“You can play with your wings at home. We're not getting new ones.” Jake tells him. “We're almost done shopping. Next we'll drive home, and then you can wear your wings to your heart's content.” The man mutters to himself “I should've just had you wear your own wings here.”

 

“You got a cool shirt.” Krista points out somewhat conspiratorially, pointing to Joshua's new pegasus shirt. “I got it too, 'cause it's like Crystal. She's my toy pegasunicorn. I have to show you her sometime, Joshua. She and Tink can be friends.”

 

“ _Quentin. And. Tinker Bell._ ” Katey gestures to her beloved cowboy figure. “ _Will. Kiss._ ”

 

Isaac sort of expects Joshua to protest that idea, but he doesn't. He's peering at Tink's wings and flicking his fingers.

 

“ _Krista. Make. Quentin._ ” Katey starts to boss her sister. “ _Do. It._ ” She grabs her cowboy but can't reach Joshua's Tinker Bell doll.

 

“That's a cool cowboy you've got there.” Jake tells Katey. “Joshua, are you gonna have Tink kiss him?” Instead, Joshua sticks Tink's feet back in his mouth.

 

Krista manages to do as Katey instructed and briefly press Quentin's face against Tinker Bell's, although Joshua whacks Quentin away using Tink as a club.

 

Finally, the person in front of Isaac has all their bags filled and leaves. Isaac gives a quick hello to the cashier, who takes the time to gush over the girls.

 

“Lost boys, fall in!” Joshua crows, flapping. “Slighty. Cubby-Curly. Tootles. Nibs. The _twins!_ ” He stares right at the girls' Clone Trooper masks with wide green eyes. “The twins!”

 

“Yeah, they're twins.” Isaac tells him, grinning.

 

“But we're not lost boys, 'cause we're girls.” Krista puts in.

 

“ _We. Are. Girls._ ” Katey had been selecting the words on her tablet while her sister was saying the same thing. “ _Clone Troopers._ ”

 

“We're the first girl clone troopers!” Krista shouts, adopting a pose with an imaginary rifle. “Captain Katey and Commander Krista.”

 

“Two fairies, born from the same laugh.” Isaac has no idea what Joshua's talking about.

 

“ _Tinker Bell._ ” Katey apparently gets it. “ _And. And._ ” She gives Isaac her _I don't have the word I want_ look and accompanying groan.

 

“Tinker Bell and Periwinkle!” The boy supplies, and shakes his doll for emphasis.

 

“ _Elsa. Fairy._ ” Katey works around the lack of the name. Isaac thought _Periwinkle_ used to be on Katey's tablet- the girls went through a Disney Fairies phase in preschool, and then of course they got sucked into _Frozen._ Elsa and Periwinkle both have wintery powers (and a sister from whom they were separated for most of their life).

 

The girls aren't super into Tinker Bell, but they don't seem to mind talking about the Disney Fairies movies with Joshua.

 

“Peri.” Krista provides the name for her sister, even though Joshua already covered it.

 

“ _Krista is my twin sister._ ” Katey selects another prerecorded phrase, which spares her time of having to pick each word. “ _Just. Like. Tinker Bell._ ”

 

“An' Periwinkle!” Joshua finishes. Isaac wonders how many times this will be brought up. Technically, _Secret of the Wings_ showed Tinker Bell and Periwinkle splitting from one, even though the fairies should be fraternal twins. Krista and Katey are identical.

 

“Wings!” Joshua says again, back to that topic again.

 

“First store, then wings.” Jake replies warily.

 

“X-Wing kite?” Joshua tries.

 

Katey's eyes grow wide with amazement. “ _You. Have-_ ”

 

“You have an X-Wing kite?” Krista asks. “We have a butterfly kite.”

 

“They seem to be getting along.” Jake remarks over the kids' heads to Isaac.

 

“ _We. Play. With. It?_ ” Katey asks.

 

"Yeah, we can fly kites together sometime. And you can fly our butterfly kite, and we can fly your X-Wing kite." Krista enthuses. The girls never showed an interest in kites before. They'd used them once, and they've been sitting in a garage for over a year since.

 

"Yes." Joshua says.

 

Jake's whole face lights up. "You wanna invite them to come fly kites with us, buddy?"

 

"Fly kites!"

 

"So, I guess we should set up a playdate." Isaac suggests, trying not to sound too eager at the idea of meeting again. It's for the kids. He heard Jake talking to his spouse. 

 

“Yeah, that'd be great. Uh, so what's your number?” He fishes his cell phone out of his jeans (which give a pretty good view of his amazingly long legs), and offers it to Isaac to put in his number.

 

Isaac takes the proffered phone, forcing down the way his heart leaps. It's for the kids, he tries telling himself.

 

“Have a nice day, sir.” The cashier says.

 

“You too.” Isaac grins. Despite the two separate occasions today when strangers tried to insert their opinions into Isaac's life, today definitely turned out to be a good day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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>  The pegasunicorn shirt
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> https://www.pinterest.com/pin/154389093453067996/


	2. Chapter 2

 

Jake walks into the atrium in the center of his house to find a large stretchy blue “body sock” with the vague shape of a boy in it. Jake likes to hide in the thing to unwind when the world is too overstimulating for him, but sometimes it's just for fun, like now.

 

“Well, look what we have here. A cocoon.”

 

“ _Chrys-_ a-lis.” Joshua sing-songs from within the fabric, voice slightly muffled.

 

“I know, I know.” Jake smiles down at the lump. They've had this conversation a million times, whenever Joshua goes into his Body Sock, and he'd said it wrong on purpose this time. “Cocoons are for moths.”

 

“Cocoon silk.” Joshua says from within the body sock, voice muffled.

 

Personally, Jake thinks cocoons are better, since silk is a lovely and useful material, whereas chrysalides are just hardened protein, but he's not about to get into that argument with Joshua again.

 

“You're gonna relax in there?” Jake asks, heading out of the atrium into the kitchen to start dinner. He can see Joshua's body sock over the counter/bar separating the kitchen and atrium. Joshua doesn't answer, and just hums to himself inside the body sock, rocking slightly. Several plastic animals are arranged on the bar counter, with the flying animals- birds, bats, bugs and a few pterodactyls- featured prominently in front.

 

Twenty minutes later, Joshua emerges from the body sack, wearing his old costume butterfly wings (there's a reason Jake hadn't let him get that pair at the store today, he already has a ton). Jake hadn't noticed they'd been in there with him. “A beautiful butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.”

 

“Well, I'll be darned. You just pupated.” Jake grins as he dumps pasta into the pot of boiling water.

 

“Pupated!” Joshua laughs. “Pupated pupated pupated in a chrys-a-lis.”

 

"How do you spell 'chrysalis'?" Jake asks, honestly not knowing.

 

"C-H-R-Y-S-A-L-I-S!" Joshua answers. He dashes around the circular loop from the atrium, down the hall, through the kitchen/dining area and back down into the atrium, hands flicking like wings themselves. On the third lap, instead of turning from the dining area and going down the two steps to the atrium, he passes the conversation pit and goes through the living room in the back of the house, and turns into the atrium from the living room.

 

“Just don't fly away, Mr. Butterfly. I kind of like having you around.” Jake tells him,

 

Skidding to a halt in front of the elevated garden in the atrium, Joshua peers at their mesh butterfly cage nestled under the plants. The caterpillars spun their own chrysalides not long ago. “Butterflies.”

 

“They're gonna take a while to come out, buddy.” Jake tells him, as Joshua brushes his fingers over the mesh.

 

A bit later, Joshua comes to him with the 3D X-Wing kite he'd gotten for his tenth birthday. “Fly X-Wing?”

 

Jake grins when hearing Joshua make a request. He'd been completely nonverbal when Jake first adopted him. After countless hours in therapy, they'd used Picture Exchange Communication System, where Joshua had to hand Jake cards to get what he wanted, instead of just pulling him places. He'd been told before he adopted Joshua that he might never speak. Communicating with exchanging pictures, or even using an app like Katey used, would have worked, but Jake still loves hearing his son's voice. They're still working on typing some of his thoughts, though, since his functional language still doesn't let him express a lot of what goes on in his head.

 

“Not right now. I'm cooking dinner, buddy.” Jake answers. "We'll do it Friday, _if_ the weather's nice." Thankfully, they avoid a meltdown this time, but that doesn't always happen. Last week, Joshua kept shouting "Fly X-Wing!" and "X-Wing kite!" even though a thunderstorm was raging around their house. He'd been wearing his earmuffs after the first clap of thunder, of course. 

 

Jake's absolutely thrilled that Joshua agreed to invite the girls and Isaac along for kite-flying. He'd even interacted with the twins, in his own way, instead of ignoring them. That was pretty great.

 

Joshua goes into the conversation pit and starts lining up his buddies on the sofa. Robert the Rabbit, a toy Joshua had from before Jake adopted him. Joshua hadn't really played with Robert, per se, but he'd held the toy while spinning and staring at the sky in the atrium. Eventually, Robert had been neglected in favor of a plush Dumbo, since Joshua was obsessed with that movie.

 

Next in line is a Stellaluna finger puppet that came with the book (Joshua carted the small bat and her book around for a while). This is actually Stellaluna 2- the first puppet was lost at a restaurant, prompting huge tantrums. Those two toys join Robert on the couch, followed by a plush Buzz Lightyear that's fared much longer than a talking plastic version would have, since Joshua likes to throw toys around, as if trying to make them fly. He never carried Buzz around, but he wore Buzz Lightyear wings for a while.

 

It's not lost on Jake that almost all of Joshua's obsessions have involved flying in some way). Buzz is followed by several penguins, which are the ironic exception to that flying idea, although they do still have wings.

 

Now, Tinker Bell is Joshua's constant companion, and the plastic doll has survived a fair number of flights and foot-chewing. Joshua carefully arranges his little plastic Disney Fairies figurines, a gift for his eleventh birthday. Surprisingly, he hasn't thrown those, which is good because they'd break really easily. "I make forces of nature, you fix pots and kettles." He quotes while placing Vidia on the sofa. 

 

“Dinner's ready.” Jake announces several minutes later. “With some milkweed. Butterflies have to eat lots of milkweed to stay strong.” Okay, it's really lettuce, but that's no fun. For a while, getting any food into Joshua that wasn't Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was an impossibility. He still has a limited diet, but somehow lettuce became acceptable. Jake's not complaining. 

 

Thankfully, Joshua never tried eating the actual milkweed they'd fed their caterpillars.

 

“Nectar!”

 

“Oh, right, butterflies eat nectar. Caterpillars eat milkweed, right?” Jake corrects himself. “Well, we've got nectar to make butterflies strong.” He points to Joshua's glass of milk.

 

This earns him an unimpressed look from his son that clearly says _that's milk, Papa. It's nothing like nectar._

 

“I thought you were a butterfly? You came out of a cocoon.” Jake mentions. Some people think kids with autism don't do pretend play. It's something Jake and Joshua had worked on for years.

 

“ _Chrysalis,_ Papa.” Joshua says, but he giggles slightly as he digs into his lettuce.

 

“So if you're not a butterfly right now... are you a fairy like Tinker Bell?” Jake gestures to the doll sitting by Joshua's plate. Jake just hums around the lettuce in his mouth and rocks slightly. “You eat like a rabbit, you know that? Like Robert.”

 

Joshua whirls his arms over his head, and the kind of look like spinning rabbit ears.

 

“What, you're a flying rabbit now? With helicopter ears?” Jake suggests, laughing. “Like that one rabbit Lost Boy.”

 

Silence.

 

“Who's the rabbit lost boy, Joshua?”

 

“Nibs!”

 

“Yeah, Nibs.”

 

Later that evening, Jake and Joshua play the Dogfight game on Wii Sports Resort. Of course that's Joshua's favorite, since they're both flying airplanes. Every obsession Jake can remember has revolved around flight- Dumbo, airplanes and helicopters (and _Star Wars_ ships), crows, Stellaluna, the current Tinker Bell and Peter Pan obsession.

 

Joshua stands in front of the TV, jumping up and down, which makes his plane swerve onscreen and crash into the volcano, and his Mii shoots out in a parachute.

 

Jake gets a text from his twin sister, Yasmin.

 

' _Why'd you rush to end our call earlier?'_

 

He types a reply to his sister, while Joshua takes the opportunity to repeatedly shoot Jake's plane and lower his balloon count while he's distracted, the little cheater.

 

 _'There was a cute guy. He had adorable twin girls, too.'_ Jake texts back after pausing the game. Joshua lets out an annoyed sound at that and tries to grab for Jake's Wii remote.

 

She sends _Call me. I need details._ Jake starts a video call with his sister, propping up his phone so it shows them on the couch and un-pausing the game. Joshua lets out a happy squeal, going back to flying.

 

“So, he had twins, huh? They can't be more adorable than we were.” Yasmin remarks.

 

Jake glances at a picture on the family room wall. It's a childhood pic of Jake and Yasmin, snuggled together on the sofa with happy brown eyes and cheesy grins. Kid Jake is sticking his tongue out.

 

“Don't worry, you're still adorable, Jakey.” Yasmin teases. Jake's pretty sure she's the only person who'd call a tall, muscular guy adorable and really mean it.

 

“I'm not adorable.”

 

“You're a huge softie.” Yasmin replies, unimpressed.

 

“The girls, Katey and Krista, they were dressed as Clone Troopers.” Jake changes the topic.

 

“Okay, maybe they're about as cute as we were.” Yasmin concedes.

 

Jake recaps the events at Target, and shows her Joshua's new shirt, which he's still wearing.

 

“You're rocking that shirt, Joshua.” Yasmin tells him.

 

“Rocking that shirt, Joshua!” Joshua laughs, but doesn't pull his attention away from his plane on the TV screen.

 

Yasmin smirks knowingly as Jake sort of gushes about how Isaac stood up to the other man about Joshua wearing the clothes he wanted. Jake sighs, already knowing he's going to suffer through a lot of teasing for this.

 

“Oh, you're crushing _hard,_ Jakey. Tell me you got this guy's number. If you didn't, I will track this guy down myself and give your number to him.”

 

“I got his number,” Jake says, trying to fight the rush of blood to his face. “But he suggested a playdate with his girls.”

 

“ My little bro is finally going to start dating.” Yasmin still never misses the opportunity to point out that she's older, even though they're both approaching thirty-five. She's only two hours older, as if that counts. “When's the wedding? I'll be the best girl, of course.”

 

Jake groans. Why did he tell her this again?

 

“He's probably married.” Jake says, as much for her as to convince himself not to pine after Isaac.

 

“Well, text him anyways.”

 

Jake pulls up the contact on his phone and texts _Hey. Jake from Target here. Want to meet at the fields by the rec center? What time works for you? We usually go Friday evenings at 6:30._

 

Their conversation moves on to Yasmin describing how work at her dance studio went (one kid in her class apparently threw up), but she continues to tease him relentlessly about Isaac.

 

He puts Joshua to bed later, and reads some of Gail Carson Levine's Tinker Bell book _Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg_ out loud _._ It's actually not nearly as tedious as he expected, and is about the newest fairy in Fairy Haven, Prilla, trying to discover her talent, because so far she hasn't found an existing one that fits her.

 

Joshua loves the story and the artwork. Jake loves not reading  _Stellaluna_ for the millionth time. Literally, he'd read it every night for almost a year. He'd been reading it in his sleep.

 

“Joshua, you've gotta stay in bed tonight.” Jake tells him, because he's started getting up in the middle of the night, like he did years ago. They are so not doing that again.

 

Except they are.

 

* * *

 

It feels like it was only yesterday that Isaac gave his babies baths in the sink, he thinks as he watches his girls splash in the tub, surrounded by rubber ducks, toy boats, an Ariel doll that really swims, as well as some _Little Mermaid_ bath toys. Katey in particular always loved that movie.

 

Katey's still sulking slightly from having her hair washed, despite Isaac using the tear-free shampoo. She usually loves baths, and water in general. She especially loves her aquatic therapy, and swimming.

 

“Oh no, the boat's going to hit the ducklings!” Krista shouts, pushing a toy cruise ship towards some floating rubber ducks.

 

Katey forgets her sulking, and presses the button to make Ariel flap her fin and swim across the tub. Ariel ends up knocking both the ducks and the boat out of the way, and both girls collapse into giggles.

 

“She's on a rampage!”

 

Katey squeals and pushes the boat into Krista's stomach repeatedly.

 

“Hey, I'm not Ursula!” Krista shouts, annoyed, while Katey laughs at her, as if to say _yeah, you are._ “Ursula's ugly.”

 

Isaac takes the boat from them, and Katey looks at him, letting out a sound and holding Ariel up to his face.

 

“What, am I Prince Eric?” Isaac asks.

 

Katey gives an affirmative sound bonks his face with Ariel. It's not just a random limb spasm either.

 

“Ow, don't do that, Katey!” Isaac scolds. Katey vocalizes at him.

 

“You're supposed to kiss her.” Krista informs him.

 

Shaking his head slightly, Isaac plants a kiss on her, even though his lips almost cover the doll's entire plastic face.

 

Katey laughs and starts vocalizing the “ah- ah- ahhhhh” song Ariel sings. That's probably one of the reasons Katey has always loved Ariel, since the mermaid lost her voice when she became human.

 

Isaac takes the toy boat and drives it into Katey's stomach, making her Ursula. She gives him a betrayed look, but fair's fair.

 

After a bit, he drains the bathwater and helps Katey out of the tub, supporting her until they reach where her walker is waiting in the hallway. From there, it's a short walk to the girls' room.

 

He'd moved into a one-story house with the girls when they were half a year old. He'd been told at Katey's birth that she might have some complications due to oxygen deprivation, that she might not walk, so it just seemed easier to live somewhere without stairs.

 

They were wrong. Katey can walk, albeit rather unsteadily.

 

He helps Katey into her pajamas. She can put her feet into her pajama legs herself, which is great.

 

For the hour or so between bathtime and when the girls start getting ready for bed, Isaac unfortunately has to catch up on some work.

 

Instead, he checks his phone and sees a message from Jake. He fights back a cheer when he sees it. _Hey._ _Jake from Target here. Want to meet at the fields by the rec center? What time works for you? We usually go Friday evenings at 6:30._

 

Isaac types his response.  _Katey has swim lessons at the Rec center at 5 on Fridays, so that'll fit perfectly next week._

 

There's no response for a bit.

 

When he walks into the girls' room for bedtime, Isaac sighs at the mess. Lego and Duplo are scattered everywhere as the girls make a huge tower that Quentin is leaning against. They've kept all their Duplo bricks since they're much easier for Katey to handle than regular Lego's- and Krista likes them because they have Disney Princesses. 

 

The girls' room is large, almost as big as Isaac's master bedroom. There's a window seat and shelves on the wall parallel to the door, and the walls are covered in wallpaper of a fairytale forest. Isaac put huge castle decals around the girls' beds. Krista's bed is on the right side of the wall with the door, and Katey's is on the left.

 

“ _Not. Tired. Daddy._ ” Katey pokes her tablet on the floor next to her.

 

“Well, it's bedtime.” Isaac isn't going to back down on this. Why do his girls still bother?

 

“Five more minutes?” Krista begs. “I'm almost done with Hogwarts.” Oh, so that's what she's building. Isaac's been reading the first _Harry Potter_ to them.

 

“Hogwarts will be there tomorrow.” He says, ushering them to brush their teeth. He lets them do it themselves first before taking over to make sure their teeth are actually clean. They're still not particularly good at it.

 

“You look happy.” Krista remarks.

 

“I am.”

 

“ _Why._ ”

 

“Because I'm spending time with you.” He says evasively, but then tells the truth. “Remember Joshua from Target earlier today?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Well, his dad asked if we could meet them to fly kites.”

 

“Joshua has an X-Wing kite.” Krista enthuses.

 

“Yeah.”

 

They settle into bed for story time, Krista snuggled up with Crystal the Pegasunicorn and Katey with Quentin by her pillow and a toy owl in her arms. Isaac reads about how Harry's first Quidditch match and how he almost falls off his broom. Both girls love that Hermione sets Snape's robes on fire. She's a great example of girl power.

 

After finishing the Quidditch chapter and saying that's it for tonight, he's about to plug in Katey's tablet to charge when she grunts and reaches for it. _“Daddy. Sing. My. Song._ ”

 

Isaac grins fondly at his daughter and sings the song he'd made up when she was a baby, to the tune of an Oscar-Meyer jingle.

 

“Oh I wish I were a little girl named Katey.

That is what I'd truly like to be,

'Cause if I were a little girl named Katey,

Everyone would be in love with me!”

 

“Daddy, do mine!” Krista demands, not one to be left out. Isaac moves over to the right side of the room to sit on her bed.

 

“My little girl has a first name: K-R-I-S-T-A,

My little girl has a last name, it's just too hard to say,

I like to see her every day and if you'll ask me way I'll say,

'Cause her big smile has a way to brighten each and every day.”

 

By now, both girls are sleepy-eyed, and Isaac switches off the light, so the room is lit up by the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.

 

He gazes at them fondly for a bit, remembering when they were still in cribs and would hold “circle time” in them like at preschool, or when he'd come in to find that Krista had climbed out of her crib and into Katey's overnight.

 

Heck, sometimes he finds them snuggled up in Katey's bed in the morning now, too.

 

Smiling, he shuts the door. When he checks his phone, he sees another message from Jake.

 

_It's a date. We'll bring the X-Wing kite._

 

Isaac's heart jumps at the word  _date,_ but surely Jake meant a playdate. That's what it is.

 

Except there's going to be a gorgeous man there.

 

* * *

 

Joshua knows nighttime is for sleeping. But there was a glowing light and silhouette outside his window, and then Captain Hook's hook had been an inch from his face.

 

Nighttime is when Peter Pan came for Wendy, John and Michael. He bounces off his bed, and for a brief moment, it's like he's flying. He laughs.

 

Joshua's window isn't like the window in the Darling kids' nursery. His window is really five tall, skinny windows lined up, that'd almost be too skinny for him to squeeze through. He taps them, peering into the darkness outside. There's no glowing light, brighter than a thousand night-lights, or silhouette of a boy hovering outside his room. There's also no hook coming to open the window.

 

Papa said to stay in bed, but he can't.

 

Joshua races from his room out into the atrium, fingers flicking rapidly with his excitement. The moonlight shines through the pyramid-shaped skylight, casting the perfect glow to do shadow puppets on the atrium floor. Joshua hooks his thumbs together to make a bird, flapping his hands as the wings.

 

He laughs, lost in the movement of his shadow. Sometimes, he wonders what it would be like if his shadow ran away from him, like Peter's. Or maybe his bird hand would fly off on its own.

 

He waits for a shadow of another boy to join his, but Peter Pan doesn't show up.

 

Flying through the atrium skylight would be the best, Joshua thinks, but he's pretty sure it doesn't open, and he wouldn't want to break it. And since his bedroom window isn't exactly a good exit, he'd have to leave somewhere else.

 

There are three sets of sliding glass doors in his house. One in the front, where Papa's office is, one in the back at the living room, and one on the right side of the house in the dining room. Sliding glass doors aren't nearly as awesome as the double casement window in the Darling kids' nursery, or Lizzy's bedroom in _Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue,_ but they're the closest he has.

 

Joshua races from the one in the living room, past the conversation pit and into the dining room, and then stepping down into the hall and heading to Papa's office.

 

“Joshua.” Papa's deep voice comes from behind him. His voice sounds heavy, rough and tired.

 

Joshua rushes past him, spinning in the atrium to play with his shadow more. He holds his Tinker Bell doll up high so her shadow looks even smaller. His Tinker Bell doll is bigger than the real Tink.

 

Papa follows him, and Joshua shrieks. Doesn't he know that Peter or Tink won't show up when an adult's around?!

 

“Joshua, why are we doing this again?” Papa asks. “C'mon man, you're killing me. I thought we were past getting up in the middle of the night.”

 

It's not like Joshua made Papa get up or anything. Just because Joshua's up, doesn't mean Papa has to be, too.

 

Joshua goes back to the sliding glass door in the living room, tapping the glass. Papa comes up behind him and turns him around. “Joshua, no, you can't go out there.”

 

Joshua shakes his head and jangles his Tink doll. He wasn't planning on going out. Besides, there are locks on all the doors.

 

“What do you need, Joshua?” Papa sighs. “Is it too loud? Do you need your headphones?”

 

The house is quiet aside from the two of them. Not even a fan is on. The headphones would block out sound of tinkling bells. Joshua drops them on the floor.

 

Papa sighs. “I guess that's a no. Do you need your cocoon?”

 

“Chrysalis.” Joshua says. Papa has to know the right term by now, Joshua's corrected him a million times. He thinks Papa gets it wrong on purpose.

 

“Do you need the pressure?” Papa asks. Joshua loves the way his chrysalis hugs him tight, but that's not what he needs right now. He races to the raised garden in the atrium and peers at the butterfly cage. They still haven't changed. In the Tinker Bell movies, Animal Talent fairies like Fawn would help them build their chrysalides.

 

“Pixie Dust!” Joshua shouts, running his hand along the grate in the wall between the atrium and hallway. His dream with Tinker Bell showing up had felt so real, and he's sure he'd fit right in in Never Land. He's already a Lost Boy, because he doesn't have a mother, just like all the other Lost Boys, until Wendy came.

 

Joshua races back to his room and leaps back on his bed. He grabs his old Dumbo plush and hurls him across the room, making him fly. Everyone though Dumbo's ears were stupid, but they made him fly! Some people think Joshua's hands are stupid, too, but they haven't made him fly yet.

 

Papa never makes Joshua stop flapping his hands, and Joshua really loves that. When he can't let energy out through flapping or flicking or jumping or spinning, he feels like he's going to burst.

 

If Papa were a fairy, he'd be a Light Talent fairy.

 

Joshua tosses Robert across the room, and then some toy birds and Stellaluna Two. He leaps off his bed with Tink again. He doesn't fly.

 

* * *

 

Jake groans as he hears laughter and the sound of a body jumping around outside his bedroom. He loves Joshua's laugh, just not at... whatever time it is. He untangles himself from his sheets and pads towards his bedroom door in his boxers. He doesn't see anything through the opaque little glass windows on his door, but he can definitely hear his son.

 

He thought they'd been past these nighttime parties, but progress with Joshua is very linear. These nighttime wakings had disappeared for a while, to Jake's relief, and now they're back.

 

There was a period of time when Joshua was little, when he'd be up every night for hours, which was freaking _hard._ Jake was exhausted _All. The. Time._ Joshua was exhausted _All. The Time._ Jake probably made a lot more mistakes then. He'd lost it with Joshua a fair number of times, ended up screaming and throwing pillows and stuffed toys across the room as Joshua raced around laughing, because Jake has a much shorter temper when he's sleep deprived. And then he always felt like the worst father in the world after the fact.

 

Then, when he'd picked up a temporary job as a night bouncer at a bar, Yasmin had watched Joshua during the nights he worked (she's an angel, and how she managed with her day job is beyond Jake). Between the two of them bringing Joshua back to bed a million times on various nights- or just having Joshua crash in Jake's bed when Jake was there- Jake had finally started sleeping through the night.

 

And now, for a few nights a week for the past month, they've been back to these middle of the night parties. Jake groans.

 

He walks out his bedroom into the atrium, but there's no sign of Joshua. He hears a tapping coming from his right, and then a squeal. He dashes over to the source of the sound, and finds Joshua in the den at the front of the house, tapping at the sliding glass door.

 

His heart stops for a moment. Is Joshua trying to get out? But Joshua's never been an escape artist like some of the kids Jake has heard about. Sure he used to bolt, but he never actually left the house unattended.

 

Then again, his disappearing act in Target earlier had come as a bit of a surprise.

 

Joshua's progress hasn't been linear, and Jake's worried they're regressing.

 

The doors are locked, of course, but just with the regular locks that could easily be opened from the inside. Isaac's heard of, and met, some parents who have to install all sorts of special locks on their doors to keep their kids from wandering away.

 

“Joshua.” Jake says frantically, hoping he'll step away from the sliding glass door.

 

Joshua shouts and darts past him, doing shadow puppets on the atrium floor with his Tinker Bell doll.

 

“Joshua, why are we doing this again?” Jake asks, even though he's not expecting an answer. Mostly to himself, he echoes his earlier thoughts “I thought we were past getting up in the middle of the night?”

 

Joshua doesn't answer, and Jake follows him to the back of the house, where Joshua taps the sliding glass door in the living room, humming to himself.

 

“Joshua, no, you can't go out there.” Jake says, in case he's getting any ideas.

 

He tries offering the Body Sock cocoon, the earmuffs. Maybe Joshua's senses are assaulting him? Maybe there's some sound that Jake doesn't notice keeping Joshua awake?

 

But Joshua shoves both items aside, running back to his room and standing on his bed, throwing toys across his room. “Tinker Bell!” He leaps off as Jake arrives with an iPad. "Pip, Flitter, Flap!"

 

He opens it up to a document in the Notes app. “Joshua, what do you need?”

 

They've been working on Joshua typing as a way to communicate, sort of like Katey was doing earlier, but Katey's app used boxes for words instead of a keyboard.

 

He's not expecting much. They've tried this before. Sometimes it works, sometimes answering, even with typing instead of speaking, is just too much.

 

To his surprise, Joshua leans over the iPad to type.

 

_Tinker bell_

 

Okay, he already said that.

 

“You have Tinker Bell.” Jake points out. Joshua's literally holding the doll in his hand. “Did you want to see the movie? Because the middle of the night is not the time for that.”

 

“Movie?”

 

“No movie.” Jake hastens to say.

 

_No movie tinker bell_

 

_Papa bed_

 

“You want to go to my bed?” Jake asks, as Joshua starts to try and push him out of his bedroom and back into the atrium.

 

“Bed!” Joshua shouts. Jake lets himself be herded back to his bedroom- maybe Joshua will fall asleep in Jake's bed, as he's ended up doing the past couple times this has happened. Sure, eleven is kind of old to be joining Jake in bed, but Isaac's too tired to care.

 

Joshua ushers Jake into his room, but stays in the atrium and gazes at the stars through the skylight.

 

“You've got to go to bed, too.” Joshua tells him in a no-nonsense voice. “Remember how Stellaluna was the only one who was awake at night when she lived with the birds? So she learned to sleep at night like them. I'd be great if you could do that too.”

 

"Pip, Flitter, Flap. Pip, Flitter, Flap!"

 

He takes Joshua into his room and ushers him into Jake's large bed. Whenever Joshua sleeps with him, Jake wakes up to find his boy somehow taking up three-quarters of the mattress, despite being much smaller than Jake. But even sleeping at the edge of the bed will be _sleep._

 

Jake pulls Joshua to his chest under the covers, and Joshua continues to tap on the iPad.

 

_Papa bed sleep_

 

_Joshua sleep_

 

 _“_ Yes, sleep, _please._ ” Jake begs, trying to take the iPad, but Joshua clutches it tighter. “Oh, you're not done?” He sighs.

 

_Tinker bell peter pan_

 

_pixie dust fly go never land_

 

"What about Never Land?" Jake mumbles tiredly. 

 

 _Captain hook tries to kill._  Joshua hums as he types, and he's using full sentences now. _Walk the plank. Need to fly._

 

"Yeah, Hook's a real nasty guy, isn't he?" Jake asks. "Was he James or Hook in that." One of the recent Disney Fairies movies,  _The Pirate Fairy,_ featured Captain Hook before he became Captain Hook.

 

"Hook!" Joshua.

 

Jake blearily reads what he types next.

 

_wake up_

 

_fly_

  

“Wake up? You dreamed you went to Neverland?” Jake mumbles, or is Joshua just describing the movie/book? 

 

But Joshua has a big smile on his face. Clearly, Jake got it. So the dream is what Joshua hadn't been able to voice. He wanted to say he dreamed about Neverland.

 

"Did Hook try to kill you in your dream?" Jake asks, finally understanding.

 

"Hook is a codfish!"

 

"You know, Hook won't get you here." Jake says, as Joshua snuggles up to him.

 

“Papa sleep.” Joshua laughs, trying to shut Jake's eyes for him. He tries to wriggle out of Jake's arms, but Jake doesn't let him. No way he's chasing after Joshua again now that he finally got him back in a bed. Even if it's not Joshua's own bed.

 

“Joshua, if you sleep, you might dream about Neverland again.”

 

“Neverland!” Joshua says. “Go Neverland?”

 

“You wanna go there for real?”

 

“Go Neverland?” Joshua thumps his hands on the mattress, but doesn't run off.

 

“You can only go there in your dreams, buddy. Go to sleep and you'll be there.”

 

“Sleep.”

 

Jake finally drifts off with his arms around his boy, to the steady beat of Joshua hitting the mattress.

 

When Jake wakes up to sunlight streaming through the cracks in the curtains, he's curled at the edge of the bed, with Joshua splayed in the middle, taking all the room his eleven-year-old body can possibly occupy. Of course.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Joshua's house
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> https://i.pinimg.com/736x/58/97/04/5897046d26a7e9069c3fc43c757a6423--small-house-plans-house-floor-plans.jpg
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> Isaac, Krista and Katey's house (take bedrooms 2 and 3 and merge them into one bedroom)
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> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5e/29/05/5e290534080763d5fd7e5ecf896186fe.jpg


	3. Milestones

Isaac decides to take a break from work after lunch. He spent all morning working on a client's website and had ended up letting his girls watch TV for almost four hours. He tries to limit their screen time (except for Katey's communication device, of course), but far too often he relents, plopping them in front of the TV when he really needs to get stuff done.

 

Some people would probably say he's a terrible parent for how much TV the girls watch, but sometimes he can't get anything done if he's being interrupted every five seconds or having to send them both to separate areas for Time-out when they bicker.

 

Needless to say, the girls had watched far too much _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ and _Star Wars: The Clone Wars_ today.

 

Of course, there'd been breaks to take Katey to the bathroom, since she can't go on her own (Krista had offered to take her, but there's no way that was happening. Isaac could picture her dropping her twin on the bathroom floor, imagined Katey's head or back colliding with the toilet or bathtub. He made both girls promise then and there to never try to do that by themselves).

 

They'd had lunch, and Krista had fed her twin yogurt.

 

Now, Isaac is sitting criss cross on the floor in front of the coffee table, across the chessboard from Katey, who's leaning against the couch, legs stretched in front of her.

 

As always, their black cat, Loki, has already hopped on the board and knocked over some of the pieces. He only does that if they're using the board, as if to purposely mess them up. Krista insists he was trying to play chess, too.

 

“Do you remember how the rooks move?” He'd just introduced rooks the last time they played.

 

Katey grins and vocalizes, pushing her hand to nudge the rook in a straight line to the left.

 

“Good job!” Katey beams proudly at the praise, giving a little squeal of happiness. “Yeah, they can move straight in any direction. Remember, you don't want to give away your rooks, they're useful at the end of the game.”

 

“ _Don't. Want. To. Give. Away. Anything._ ” Katey says. Of course, she doesn't get that sometimes you need to sacrifice pieces to get a better position. Isaac's tried explaining that it's not just about how many pieces you take, but he's not quite sure she gets that part yet.

 

Isaac's glad she's finally old enough to learn, because it's a welcome change from all the checkers he'd played with her. They'd started out playing chess with only pawns, simply trying to get their pawns to the other side of the board. Then, they'd added the bishops, and now they have rooks too. There are still no kings, or checks and checkmates.

 

Isaac has been teaching Krista, too, thinking that they could play each other, but Krista usually ends up acting out little stories with the queens and knights instead of paying attention to the board or anything Isaac says. Now, she's just drawing pictures at the other end of the coffee table.

 

“Daddy! Look what I drew!” Krista shoves a picture of her stuffed Pegasunicorn, Crystal, fighting Darth Maul with the help of Katey's cowboy, Quentin, and the My Little Ponies. “See Katey? Quentin's shooting a gun, but Darth Maul's blocking it.” She traces little dots of bullets that are bouncing off Darth Maul's double-sided lightsaber.

 

“This is great!” Isaac praises. At least now he can actually tell what the heck it's a drawing of, instead of trying to figure out what a bunch of squiggles and blobs are supposed to be. “Do you want to hang it on the fridge, in the playroom, or in your bedroom?”

 

“Fridge!” Krista replies instantly, reaching for another piece of paper. There are tons of drawings in all three places, and almost all of them are Krista's. Katey has trouble drawing with even the fattest pencils or crayons, and her arms jerking and wiggling almost always mess up her pictures.

 

Krista may not be too into chess, but Katey loves it, along with most other board games they've played. She was wildly into checkers last year. Board games are something that she can do without being left out in any way, like she so often is with physical games or even sometimes conversations with kids who don't give her enough time to choose her words on her tablet. Her arms sometimes flail, but she can still move the pieces.

 

Isaac isn't going to force her to keep playing chess if she ever decides to quit, but he's already having visions of her beating the pants off opponents who underestimate her intelligence because of her disability.

 

“ _I want to play. Chess._ ”

 

“You wanna play a game?” Isaac asks, and she grins. So Isaac sets up the pawns, bishops and rooks. Right now, they're still playing the version where they just try to get their pawns to the other side, but they can capture with other pieces.

 

“Black or white?” Isaac asks, and surprisingly she picks black, even though that means moving second, although it's the opposite in checkers.

 

Isaac moves a pawn forwards and Katey mirrors his move. Board games are also great for her grasping skills, something she doesn't have to use when tapping her tablet. Sometimes she just pushes the pieces with her hand instead of picking them up.

 

Several moves later, Isaac's winning, of course, but Katey's been picking this up quickly and improving. She's inched some pawns forwards and is just now nudging her rook to take Isaac's bishop. Her eyes sparkle as she laughs triumphantly.

 

Isaac proceeds to capture the rook that just took his bishop with his other rook, blocking one of Katey's pawns in the process. “Uwwwuaaaaaahh!” Her laughter turns to angry vocalization, now that he's turned the tables back on her. She smacks her hand against the table and glares at him.

 

“Something's moving in my mouth.” Krista says out of nowhere.

 

“Your tongue?” Isaac jokes, and Katey giggles.

 

“No, Daddy.” Krista looks worried now, and gets up to run to the bathroom. Isaac debates about following her, but he can see the bathroom from here.

 

Isaac and Katey wait for a bit, and then Krista comes running back, shouting “I HAVE A LOOSE TOOTH!” Her worry has been replaced with very loud excitement.

 

Isaac winces and then gives her a stern look. “Indoor voice, Krista.”

 

“I have a loose tooth. See?” She opens her mouth and wiggles her lower center-left tooth with her tongue.

 

“ _Wow._ ” Katey says, looking jealous as she peers into her sister's mouth. Krista now is wiggling her tooth with her finger.

 

“ _I want. My. Tooth._ ” Katey taps out on her tablet, and Isaac tries to remember if the word _loose_ is in her tablet. “ _Out._ ” She looks pretty dejected.

 

“Your teeth will come loose and fall out too.” Isaac placates her. It'll be too soon, really. How are they losing teeth already?

 

“ _Really?_ ” Katey looks at him hopefully, and it dawns on him that she might have thought losing teeth was yet another thing her sister could do that she couldn't, like walking, talking or feeding herself and using the bathroom on her own.

 

“When do you think it'll fall out?” Krista flops impatiently on the sofa, still wiggling her tooth.

 

“Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow.” Isaac says. “If you want, I can pull it out with a piece of string. You know, tie it around a door and slam it.”

 

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have said that. Krista's giving him a horrified look with her hand protectively clamped over her mouth.

 

“Sorry honey. Daddy was teasing. I'm not gonna do that to you.”

 

Krista nods, looking relieved, and then says “Rebecca said she got twenty dollars for her tooth!”

 

Katey lets out a jealous groan, while Isaac makes a sound that's almost like choking. _Twenty bucks for one tooth?!_

 

Still, he can't say he's surprised. Rebecca lives in a honest-to-god _mansion_ with her parents. Last time the girls had had a playdate there, they'd come home talking about how she had a small army of American Girl dolls, and those things are a hundred bucks a pop, plus extra for the smorgasbord of accessories you can get for them. And Isaac's pretty sure Rebecca has most of that smorgasbord.

 

Krista looks so happy, and Isaac really doesn't want to burst her bubble, but he also doesn't want her thinking she's going to get an insane amount of money.

 

“I don't think the tooth fairy's going to leave you as much money as she left Rebecca.”

 

“Why not?” Krista asks with wide eyes, and Isaac is so not prepared for this.

 

“Um, so you know how Rebecca has a bigger house than us, and more toys?”

 

“Yeah. I should get even more money than Rebecca, so it's fair.” His kids are all about fairness now, and often tattle on each other. “Then I can buy all that stuff for us.” Krista nods as if she'd just imparted a great wisdom. This is _so_ not the direction Isaac wanted this to go.

 

“Sorry, but life isn't fair, kiddo. The tooth fairy's probably only gonna leave a dollar or two.” Isaac says, ignoring Krista's sulk. “Now, Daddy has get back to work now. Katey, we'll finish our chess game later, okay.

 

 _“Okay. Daddy. I will. Win.”_ Katey grins, and then asks. “ _Swimming_. _Tonight_?”

 

“Yep, you have swimming.” At least one of them's in a good mood now. “And then we're flying kites.” Jake had actually texted him yesterday asking if they really had a butterfly kite. Apparently Joshua's been asking about it.

 

He's really looking forward to seeing the other man this evening.

 

* * *

 

Fifteen years ago, Jake would have never believed that he'd be able to touch a car as nice as a 1963 Corvette Stingray.

 

Granted, this beauty's not his car. He's just fixing her up.

 

Jake loves his job. He'd started out as a run-of-the-mill mechanic, until Lydia Hodge took him under her wing. The woman had started her career as a mechanic back in a day when female mechanics were practically unheard of. She'd taken some years off to raise a family, but once her kids were at school, she'd gone back to fixing vehicles while her husband, Ebenezer Hodge, dealt with customers. Lydia specialized in fixing up classic, vintage and generally expensive cars and motorcycles.

 

One time, she'd apparently gotten to work with a _motherf'ing_ _Ferrari_ , and Jake is _so_ jealous.

 

She took Jake not only as her apprentice, but also her surrogate son. She'd grown up in a more racist time, but clearly didn't care at all that Jake is black when she immediately welcomed him into her family.

 

When the Hodges retired, they'd passed the shop to Jake, since none of their own kids ended up going into the business.

 

Jake moved it to his detached, 3 car garage, in his house that happens to be right next door to the Hodge household. The garage attached to his house contains his own, beloved Harley Davidson, complete with a sidecar and his pickup truck that he uses to tow vehicles if they need it, as well as just driving if he can't use the bike.

 

He certainly makes a heck of a lot more money now than he used to, and he gets to work on some great vehicles. A lot of his customers are rich, car collectors, and some of them can be rather snooty.

 

Working with cars and motorcycles always has a way of quieting Jake's mind. There was a time he wouldn't have to think of anything else when he was working.

 

Of course, for the past six years since the adoption, certain thoughts never totally leave his mind. He never stops thinking about Joshua's safety and happiness.

 

The Hodges have been lifesavers in more ways than one. They watch Joshua when he's not in school and Jake's working. Both of them completely adore Joshua. They weren't at all put off by the idea of a black man adopting a white child, even though they'd grown up in a more racist time. Then again, they'd welcomed Jake into their own family with no hesitation.

 

Rolling the creeper out from under the jacked up car, Jake wipes his grease and oil-covered hands off on a spare rag.

 

He calls Mr. Jones, but ends up leaving a voicemail telling him his car's like new again, and to call when he wants to pick her up.

 

Closing the garage door, he heads into his house for a quick shower, letting his dreads hang loose around his shoulders. He then changes into clean clothes and sets off next door to the Hodge household.

 

Jake can smell freshly baked cookies when Lydia Hodge answers the door, dressed in her Darth Vader apron that reads “Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.” Her silvery hair is in a messy bun.

 

It's quite common to be greeted by the smell of freshly baked goodies at this house. Lydia loves baking as much as she loved fixing cars and bikes. Joshua's gotten really good at kneading dough over the years the Hodges have spent babysitting him. Playing with dough is also a lot better than some of the alternatives, like smearing feces. Jake's read about some kids on the spectrum doing that, and he's really glad Joshua's not in that group. Joshua also loves lining up the cookie cutters on the counter and cutting out shapes.

 

“Hello, my young Padawan. You fixed that Stingray up right, didn't you?” Lydia's voice has a bit of a Russian accent.

 

“Beaut runs like a dream now.” Jake replies with a grin. “Of course, I had the best teacher.”

 

“Of course, dear.” She ushers him inside. One time, he'd been in such a rush that he hadn't even changed into clean clothes, and she'd still ushered him in when he was covered in grease and oil.

 

The house is relatively quiet now. As he'd walked away after dropping Joshua off this morning, he'd heard his boy shout “Papa's coming BACK!” Lydia informs him that went on for a while this morning.

 

Jake still remembers the first time he'd heard his son say that, shortly after Joshua turned nine. Jake hadn't been able to walk away, despite having an appointment in five minutes. He'd immediately gone back in to assure his son that yes, he was coming back, Papa always comes back.

 

Joshua has experienced firsthand the crushing feeling of people who should have cared for him not coming back. He'd only been three and a half when his biological parents abandoned him, strapped in a toddler car seat outside a hospital and presumably went on to start a new life. It's apparent that Joshua still clearly remembers.

 

Jake can't completely compare, but his own parents all but disowned him when they'd found out he was gay, and he'd spent his whole child and teenage years hearing that it was a sin to lay with another man.

 

He's all the more grateful that Lydia and Ebenezer treat him like a son. They've even had several choice words to say about both Jake and Joshua's biological parents.

 

Jake clears his thoughts as Tigger the tabby cat pounces on an origami penguin.

 

Jake swears Joshua keeps the paper business running all by himself.

 

There are paper airplanes on the stairs. Jake can picture Joshua lining up carefully, one on each step, but Tigger clearly doesn't care at all about Joshua's system. Joshua does not like it when his carefully arranged objects are disturbed. There have been fights between him and the cats (mostly Tigger) over the years, and Joshua's been scratched several times.

 

At other times, he loves the two cats so much that he ends up annoying them when they want to be left alone. Joshua likes cats, but he's terrified of dogs, especially small dogs. Jake wonders if he had a bad experience with a dog- maybe a chihuahua, since he reacts the worst to them- before they met.

 

There are twenty or so origami animals in front of the stairs. Like the airplanes, they no longer form a line. Some more paper airplanes are scattered, but it's not the fault of the cats with these. Some of them clearly having missed their target of a laundry basket.

 

Jake grins knowingly. “Paper airplane contest again, huh?” They've been doing this most days for the past several years, and the Hodges are probably getting tired of it, but they don't show it.

 

Jake picks a not-totally-white plane out of the laundry basket and unfolds it, seeing his son's drawing of a screenshot from _Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue,_ where Tinker Bell and Lizzy soar around Lizzy's bedroom. Jake knows he'd paused the scene and copied it down.

 

It's a good drawing, but of course Jake's biased. Joshua's no art savant- he can't glance at an image and reproduce it exactly from memory or anything. Jake can picture Joshua with his iPad paused on a specific frame, copying the scene. He's seen him do it countless times before. So he uses references, but he's still got so many details drawn on the page, like the little flowers on Lizzy's dress or the design's on Tinker Bell's wings.

 

He unfolds another plane and sees a rendering of a first-person view of a podracer, purple electricity arcing between the engines.

 

“I keep trying to get him to put them up on the fridge, but he always wants to make them into planes.” Lydia shakes her head fondly, looking at the drawing. Joshua's only started folding his drawings into planes recently.

 

Following Lydia into the family room, he finds Ebenezer on the floor with Joshua, who's hugging the black cat Eleanor to his chest. Part of a Lego house is constructed, and his Tinker Bell doll is sitting on a Lego motorcycle (that makes Jake grin), but Joshua seems to have moved on. He's crouched over the iPad, scrolling around Google Earth, something he does a lot.

 

“Hey buddy! How was the library?” Jake asks, knowing they'd gone there today. No response. “Joshua, did you enjoy the library today?”

 

Joshua answers with a grunt, not looking up from the iPad. That actually seems pretty typical of a pre-teen.

 

“There was some running and shouting.” Ebenezer tells him from where he's sitting in the minefield of Lego's. “He got a bit too excited about some of the books.” Thankfully the librarians haven't kicked them out for Joshua being loud, though Jake or the Hodges always try to shush him and say “Indoor voices, please” and “No running, please.”

 

Sometimes Joshua will repeat those phrases in the library as he travels up and down the shelves, running his fingers along the books. He can spend a good deal of time just stimming in there, and then more time actually looking at books or playing on the computers.

 

Joshua sends Tink's motorcycle careening towards Jake's foot, then gets up and runs into Jake himself. “Papa's coming BACK!”

 

Eleanor hops out of Joshua's arms and stalks away haughtily.

 

Jake grins and hugs his son back. Some kids with autism hate hugs, but Joshua loves to snuggle, at least when he's in a good mood. Jake's glad, because he's a hugger, himself. “Papa always comes back, remember?”

 

After a bit, Joshua pulls back, grabbing his drawing out of Jake's hand and starts to refold it into a plane. “You know I was gonna put that on the fridge, right?”

 

“On the fridge.” Joshua says, but he continues folding.

 

“What'd you get from the library?” Jake asks, crouching down to send Tink and the Lego motorcycle back to Joshua.

 

Jake presents him with several things. The second Disney Fairies book by Gail Carson Levine, _Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand_ , a field guide on birds, a DVD for a Tinker Bell movie that they already own on DVD _and_ have downloaded on his iPad, and a _Magic School Bus_ book about bats.

 

“X-Wing kite?” Joshua asks knowingly. Lydia grins. She'd been the one to buy him the X-Wing kite for his eighth birthday. That'd had been during the peak of his plane obsession (although he still loves paper airplanes now), and she'd immediately introduced him to starships.

 

“First dinner, then X-Wing kite.” Jake tells him, although Joshua already knows the routine. 

 

“Good weather for kite-flying.” Ebenezer remarks, knowing their schedule by now. Friday nights are kite nights, if the weather's nice. (That's written on his schedule. _Fly kites IF it's warm and not raining or snowing._ )

 

Last week, Joshua had been very disappointed when an unexpected rain had prevented them from doing this. Nobody likes to have rain ruin their fun plans for the day, after all. He'd kept saying “X-Wing kite!” and “Fly kite!” in louder and more upset tones.

 

Joshua had already been in a bit of a mood for having to miss kite flying, and then the rain had turned into a thunderstorm. Thunder is loud enough for Jake, and he'd been pretty scared of it as a kid. It already sounds like a cannon, but it's undoubtedly much worse for Joshua. With his hypersensitive hearing, it probably sounds like a dozen cannons firing right into his ear.

 

He'd ended up clasping his hands over his headphones, curled up tight in his body sock chrysalis, shrieking and headbanging to try and drain out the rumbles and booms with his own noise, Jake thinks, though obviously he'd tried to stop Joshua from hitting his head.

 

That had been a rough evening.

 

It's a good thing they hadn't been already flying kites when they were caught by surprise, or they might have ended up replicating Benjamin Franklin's lightning experiment.

 

This morning, Joshua had enthusiastically read out today's more promising forecast. “Sunny. High of eighty-four, zero percent precipitation!”

 

Jake helps Joshua gather up his books, Tinker Bell, and some of his paper airplanes, though the Hodges have a huge stash in their house, and have told Jake that he doesn't have to constantly cart them back and forth.

 

“You need to bring Yasmin around sometime.” Lydia tells him. “It's been too long.” Sometimes Jake thinks Lydia likes Yasmin even more than him, despite the fact Jake was Lydia's apprentice for years. Lydia's not even too into dance, but they still get along famously.

 

Jake's glad that they get along, really. The Hodges had him and Yasmin over for Thanksgiving the past few years. Jake had been attending long before Yasmin, but the last time Yasmin visited their parents, they'd constantly asked her when she was going to find a man and give them grandkids. She hadn't bothered telling them they've had a grandkid for six years, since they don't consider Jake a son anymore.

 

“First dinner, then kite.” Joshua tries to drag Jake towards the door. “Fly kites IF it's warm and not raining or snowing.”

 

“Yep, looks like the weather's gonna be on our side today.” Jake lets himself be tugged towards the door.

 

“Butterfly kite?”

 

“You have a butterfly kite now?” Lydia asks, looking half charmed and half disappointed her X-Wing kite might be neglected.

 

“No. We're going to have some new friends join us this time, and they have a butterfly kite.” Jake says, partly to remind Joshua, but mostly because he hasn't actually told Ebenezer and Lydia yet.

 

“Who are these new friends?” Ebenezer asks. “I don't think I've heard of them.”

 

“Just the guy I met at Target and his daughters.” Jake says. “The girls were dressed as Clone Troopers. Some guy was picking on Joshua for trying on a pegasus shirt and wanting another pair of wings.” He'd already given them a brief rundown on that whole situation, but hadn't told them about flying kites with them.

 

“Was he hot?” Lydia asks, and cackles when Jake feels himself blushing. He can feel a stupid smile on his face, too, that he tries to get rid of.

 

“It's not a date or anything.” Jake mutters, although he kind of wishes it was.

 

“Sure, sure, but once you go out without the kids...”

 

“You're as bad as Yasmin.” Jake groans as he lets Joshua pull him out the door.

 

“Have fun with your man!” Lydia shouts after him, making Jake groan louder.

 

“First dinner, then kites!” Joshua flaps excitedly as they head into the house.

 


End file.
